Cleveland is a city that rocks to food

It’s a challenge to dip into a city and try to judge the restaurants and the chefs. However, one thing that always clear is that each city I’ve visited in the last couple of years is that each has a style that seems to reflect the population.

Stuffed cabbage with mashed potatoes and perogies at Sokolowski’s.

Last week I spent a few days in Cleveland, looking at a half-dozen high-profile restaurants. I wish I could have done more, but two things became obvious: Cleveland is a meat-centric city, which makes sense given its location; and portions are large, even in small-plate restaurants.

I visited the classic Sokolowski’s University Inn. It has a cafeteria line and a dining room that looks like someone’s basement rec room in the 1960s, with fake paneling and all kinds of treasures that probably wouldn’t fit anywhere else in the house. It provided a solid sense of place to balance some of the city’s more modern places, such as Dante, which is one of Dante Boccuzzi’s six places. Many may remember this chef from his stint at Silks in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco. He has a long resume cooking in Italy, France, New York, Washington, D.C., Hong Kong and Taiwan before settling in Cleveland.

It felt like all those influences showed up on the plate at this modern restaurant washed in red and black. The food was good, but didn’t seem like it had a finely honed focus, and the menu was so long it read like a wine list that covers all the bases. Dishes included ones with both pork shoulder and beef shoulder; trout with crispy chow mein; skate with braised cucumbers and shishito peppers; pasta carbonara; and lobster spring rolls. I noticed many of the restaurants cast a similarly wide net.

However, one place really stood out: Greenhouse Tavernfrom Jonathon Sawyer, who is big in the Slow Food movement and practices those principles on his menu. It has a cool interior, with bicycles hanging from the ceiling and a communal table in the center of the dining room.

Whiskey sour at Velvet Tango Room

He features something I’ve never seen here: a half of a pig’s head ($39), black with barbecue sauce with a salad of pickled carrots, celery and other vegetables, brioche buns and wedges of lime. Five of us picked on it for an hour. He also features blood fettuccine ($12) with smoked broth and sheep’s milk cheese; hay-scented poached egg with foie gras ($8); a vegan cassoulet ($21) with tofu, hominy and white beans; foie gras steamed clams ($14); and “Fifth Quarter,” which on our visit was lamb blood sausage. I’m also still thinking about the buttered popcorn pot de creme capped with caramel and sea salt.

Yet there are surprises at every turn. I loved the speak easy vibe of Velvet Tango Room, that complies with all the trendy signposts — carefully selected ice cubes, glasses, house-made bitters. But, this place has been around long before the latest trend. I had the best whiskey sour I can remember.

I also fell in love with the West Side Market, a city-owned facility that has been in business for more than 100 years. The arched brick ceiling building is filled with 100 stalls selling produce, meat and prepared items such as an exceptional gyro and locally produced brats at Frank’s Bratwurst.

Cleveland has the energy of a food town on the rise. And, for anyone who loves music and rock and roll — after all it’s the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — it’s a city worth checking out.